Uterine Fibroid Embolization Toronto

New Minimally Invasive Options for Gynecologic Surgery at North Shore Medical Center NSMC

This is the biggest change I’ve seen in my practice in 20 years its what I am most excited about since I’ve come out of residency a patient may come and see me because she’s got heavy bleeding and she was found to have a fibroid uterus as it turns out she’s been dealing with this for about three years because her mother had the same thing and she had surgery using a traditional laparotomy big incision she’s in the for a week and.

Didn’t feel well again for eight weeks what I can now tell this patient is let me bring you to the I can use small incisions you can go home the same day i’ll have you driving in three days and you can be back to work in two weeks you know we’ve been doing this for three years and we still say it’s a a great operations really sweet operation because it really allows the patient a comfort level that they wouldn’t have otherwise if they had to have a major operation.

Or major incision the procedures would be as follows: office tubal sterilization office endometrial ablations for heavy bleeding then transitioning to the we do laproscopic supracervical hysterectomies total laparoscopic hysterectomies we can combine those procedures with removal of the tubes and ovaries as well we can do laparoscopy for pelvic pain and endometriosis laparoscopy for removal the ovaries and tubes if we need to.

For history of breast cancer or for history of ovarian cycsts an example the recent patient is a patient of mine who had a fibroid uterus and the fibroid itself was the size of a grapefruit 10 centimeters she had not only heavy bleeding from this but pelvic pain and we were able to see her get her in to the did a hysterectomy the specimen itself weighed 1.5 pounds she was able to go home the following day and she’s back at work as we speak which is two and a.

Half weeks after the procedure this is someone who’s been living with pain for three to four years shoot me in the eye and say this is so easy how could I possibly have waited for so long.

Minimally invasive surgery faster recovery and smaller incision

You all set? Ready! Ready. This was Lauren Singleton seven weeks ago, heading into surgery. It was one of my options to have a hysterectomy to recify my situation, so that’s why I’m here. But Lauren’s hysterectomy was done in a way that reduced her incision size, risk of infection and overall recovery time. Rose Kung and her team at Sunnybrook.

Are Canadian leaders in minimally invasive surgeries, known as MIS. For conditions including fibroids, endometriosis and hysterectomies. Kung says MIS, where instruments are guided through tiny incisions and images are magnified on screens for the surgeons has been a huge advance for patients. So typically when they had a big incision, they would take about six weeks off work. And they would be in pain for a good three weeks. Whereas when we do the surgery laproscopically.

Or with the MIS approach, then they may take one to two weeks off work and the pain medication they take is milder. While some centres are using robots to do this type of surgery, studies comparing robots to humans found no added benefit, only added cost with the robotic approach. We have the highest volume of surgeons, highly trained surgeons, and we do the most complicated cases not just in Toronto but across Canada.

That means hundreds of surgical cases each year, help patients like Lauren get back to their lives, sooner. I actually teach fitness for a living so I’m very anxious to get back to work. Inhale and exhale!! She was home after one day, and says she didn’t expect to feel as good as she did, as quickly as she did. Now, as hoped, she’s back at work. One of the incisions I couldn’t even find because it was so small, so I was very impressed with how it went and how easy it was to.

Heal, how quick the healing was. While MIS is more difficult for those who have scarring from previous procedures, Kung says increasing expertise is making this an option for more patients at all ages. Importantly, she says if you’re not sure, get a second opinion, something Lauren did. Other people I had seen had just said, watch and wait, but I really wanted to get on with my life. And she gave my some viable options so I’m very happy. She changed.